TIL I was wasting half my bag on shoes until I saw my sister's weekender in Cincinnati
She fit 9 days of clothes into a 22 liter bag by rolling everything and using one pair of shoes for the whole trip, and I switched that same night, so now I'm wondering if packing cubes are even worth it or if rolling alone did the trick for the rest of you.
Half your bag on shoes sounds like a lot, but did you ever count how many pairs you were actually packing? Rolling works fine until you need something that wrinkles easy or you're somewhere with real weather swings. One pair of shoes for 9 days is great if it's all city walking, not so much if you're hiking one day and out to dinner the next. Packing cubes are mostly about not having your bag explode when you open it, not about saving space. Feels like the rolling did the heavy lifting and the cubes are a separate thing.